Explanatory Notes

This special release presents statistics on foreign births, or those babies born abroad to parents who are either or both Filipinos. The data were obtained from reports submitted by the different Philippine Foreign Service Establishments (PFSEs) abroad to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila. The DFA, in turn forwarded such documents to the Office of the Civil Registrar General of the National Statistics Office. The data presented herein comprised of foreign births that occurred in 2004 which were reported from January 2004 to March 2005. It must be noted that no adjustments for underreporting have been made in this report.

There are 8,837 foreign births reported in 2004

In 2004, a total of 8,837 births of Filipino descent was registered abroad, or an average of 24 foreign births daily. The sex ratio at birth was estimated at 105 males for every 100 females born in foreign countries.

The peak month for foreign births was March with 872 babies. This comprised one-tenth of the total foreign births reported. January (822) and February (808) ranked second and third place, respectively.

The months with the least number of births were in the last quarter of the year: December (532), November (592), and October (717).

Median age of mothers is 33 years; 36 years for fathers

In 2004, about 67.1 percent of babies born abroad was first-born. Eight babies were reported to be of birth order tenth and over. The median age of mothers who gave birth was 33 years. This was the same median age for mothers gave birth to their first born. The median age of fathers, on the other hand, was 36 years.

Moreover, there were 64 babies born to teenage mothers. Of this total, only three (5.0%) were babies of second birth order while the remaining 61 (95.0%) were of first birth order.

Most babies born abroad have parents who are both Filipinos

A total of 7,473 or 84.6 percent of babies born abroad had parents who were both Filipinos. Of the 870 babies born with either of the parents a foreign national, 806 (92.6%) had fathers who were foreign nationals while 64 (7.4%) had mothers of other nationalities. Babies who had Japanese fathers numbered the most at 154, followed by those whose fathers were British and American nationals, at 70 and 65, respectively.

Meanwhile, the top three registered births with mothers of foreign nationality were Japanese (15), Indonesian (10), and Chinese (8).

Most foreign-born babies have fathers engaged in gainful activity

Babies whose fathers were gainfully employed comprised 86.6 percent of total foreign births. Of this total, 3,695 or 41.8 percent had fathers who were professional, technical, and related workers; 1,338 had fathers in the services sector; and 695 had fathers with unclassified occupation. About 13.4 percent (1,186), meanwhile, were born to fathers who were engaged in non-gainful activities.

Europe-born babies number the most

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland recorded the highest number of births occurring in foreign countries with 1,349 or 15.3 percent of the total. Saudi Arabia (1,333 or 15.1 percent) and Italy (1,190 or 13.5 percent) ranked second and third, respectively. These aforementioned countries likewise reported the highest number of births by usual residence of mother with 15.3, 15.0, and 13.5 percent for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, and Italy, respectively.